Okay, second one. Bah, it's 1 AM again .o Oh well. Sorry about the first being so short. And FYI, this: .:..:., means its either a flashback, or the beginning/end of a chappy. And in this particular one, each paragraph is a different memory, except for the conversations at least. It was meant to be all of the memories crushed into one moment, of course, me lacking creativity, couldn't find a way to write it that wouldn't totally make you scream WTF afterwards ' Just so I don't end up confusing you anymore

Lele woke up, sprawled on the ground. Her now open eyes and stared at a misshapen pebble in front of her face.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lele felt someone grab her arm and pull her upright.

She looked blankly at their face. It was a boy who seemed to be about two years older than her at the most. He had silver hair and green eyes with a black hooded jacket over him. "Yeah." Lele muttered subconsciously.

The boy helped her to her feet as she dusted herself off. He looked down and noticed Lele's bare feet now bruised and raw from all her running, along with her dirty "You don't look okay."

Lele noticed he was looking at her and shuffled two steps away, "I think that's up for me to decide if you don't mind."

"Sorry," he said, breaking his gaze from the disheveled girl in front of him. He smiled kindly and held out his hand, "I'm Riku."

Lele hesitantly took it, "Lele."

Riku looked at her with a look that seemed horrified and relieved at the same time. "What?" Lele's voice seemed to shrink away along with the shadows casted in the dim light. People had often looked at her like that whenever she had spoken without being spoken to or about and shown great intelligence about whatever the topic happened to be.

"Have we ever met before?" Riku eyed Lele's long dark hair and fair skin.

"If we had, don't you think I would have remembered?"

Riku thought of Namine and her ability to manipulate people's memories. Not sure whether it was his or Lele's memory that had been changed, he didn't mention the possibility of Namine's interference. "Nice to meet you then…I guess." Riku said. If he was attempting to hide the slightly puzzled sound of disappointment in his voice, he was doing a bad job of it.

"Ditto." Lele's voice was monotone in the still air.

"Well…Um…"

"Well-Um what?"

"Do you know where you're going, or did you need any help?"

Lele faced away from him and shrugged, "I don't know."

Riku sighed, "Not much of a conversationalist are you?"

She turned back towards him, "Not unless I want to be."

An awkward silence stood between them until Lele turned to begin walking away. She didn't know where, as long as it was somewhere besides home.

"Wait." Riku called after her, stopping her in her tracks. "Did you want to come with me then?"

She turned back around. "Why? Where are you headed?"

Riku shrugged and pointed behind him, "That way."

Lele shrugged and walked back to Riku, "Sure."

The two silently began walking down the dirt road with an awkward silence standing between them for what seemed like hours.

"So…" Lele tried breaking the silence, "Where exactly are we?"

"The root of all worlds." Riku said it as if he was stating the sky was blue.

Lele laughed, thinking he was just kidding. "No really, where are we?"

"I told you. We're at the beginning and end of the world."

Lele sighed, figuring it wouldn't really matter anyway. "Fine, whatever…"

Riku turned to her, "What? You don't believe me?"

Lele stopped, "To be honest," she was still too upset about her family earlier to lie or make up excuses, "no, I don't believe you."

Riku stopped as well. "Do you seriously think I even have a reason to lie to you?"

She shrugged, "For all I know, yes."

"Well you're trusting." Riku mockingly whispered under his breath.

Lele shot him an icy glare, "I have my reasons not to trust you." Her thoughts ran back to her family. I wonder if they even know I'm gone…Probably not… Her mind trailed on as she subconsciously slowed her pace more and more until she came to a complete stop and stared vacantly at the ground infront of her.

Thinking Lele had merely fallen silent, Riku continued walking down the barren road, quickly leaving Lele far behind.

After staring face-down into the darkness, Lele's vision clouded and heavy tears rolled down her face as more of her memories were forced through her head.

Her brother's hands wrapped around her throat as she grabbed his wrists and tried to pry his fingers away from her neck. But failing miserably and being stuck in her sibling's chokehold as he shook her like a rag doll until he threw her backwards, letting her fall onto the bricks around the fireplace.

Her mom dragged her literally by her hair down a carpeted hall, leading only to be hit in the "privacy" of her tiny bedroom she had to share with her brother and sister.

Her sister grabbed Lele's arm, digging her nails deep into her arm then retracting her hand, pulling up broken flesh and tissue. But only to grab her arm in another place until their mom came and pulled them apart, leaving Lele's blood to flow freely across her skin.

Her dad's friend walked through their front door, picking Lele around the waist and away from her childhood toys, tickling her and giving her a deep, messy kiss on her face-even though he knew she hated it. But she would never tell, it made her dad laugh. Her dad was always gone unless he brought company or a new gift for someone. Lele's dad laughed heartily behind them, viewing it as a joke. He didn't know that when he turned his back, his friend made obscene gestures towards his youngest daughter. But she was so young, she didn't know what they meant until quite a few years later, even then, again-she would never tell.

Pictures of near-forgotten memories and places she had never been to flashed through her head for no longer than fractions of a second. She clutched her head, feeling the permanent bump on her head from when she had fallen three feet as an infant. Her ears rang and she saw the reminiscent remains of streetlights shining in her face, singling her out from the rest of the world as she lay screaming and writhing in pain on the smooth cement of a tennis court. Her ears rang, drowning out her own screams as her sister ran over to her side, her voice muffled and disappearing. She fell to her knees and began screaming, not wanting anything to do with her past. Everything suddenly fell silent as if quieted by her screams. She opened her eyes, still blinded by reminiscent tears.

Her dad and her sat on a wooden and metal bench in a quiet plaza in New Mexico. They both waited for the rest of their family to catch up with them. Her dad had wanted to just leave, without notifying anyone else.

"We should call them at least," Lele suggested to her dad.

"No. No one listens to me." Her dad sullenly said with his head turned away from Lele.

Lele looked at her feet, thinking of the past few nights she had spent awake listening to her parents fight, trying not to wake anyone. "No one listens to me either. Everyone thinks I'm just an insolent and senseless little girl who can't take care of herself."

After a short pause, her dad said coldy, "No, you can't."

His words wrapped their icy fingers around her heart. She bit her lip, trying to keep her tears from rolling down her face. Her family didn't like it when she cried, and not in a sympathetic way either. She tightly closed her eyes and blinked back her tears before her dad could see.

A blonde, blue eyed boy nearly a foot taller than Lele turned his head towards her as he walked casually away, "I'll see you tomorrow, right?" His smile was calm and sweet, constantly trying to refrain from bursting into laughter. Lele smiled shyly and nodded only the slightest bit, too happy to hardly breathe. The blonde boy's smile widened and he turned to walk home. Lele lingered for a moment, then turned and began walking back to her own house. She sighed as she smiled, anxious for tomorrow to come and meet the blonde haired boy at the crosswalk again. Just like every other day. A crisp breeze blew Lele's waist length hair away from her face right before everything blacked out and her memories shattered back into the bleak depths of Lele's past.

"NO!!" Lele shot up from her bed. And looked around her room, dimly lit by the streetlights outside. Her sister was sleeping in the bed next to her, heavily sleeping as usual. Lele thought of the blonde haired boy for a moment. Then inhaled deeply, trying to shake the thought of him away. "Stupid lucid dreaming." She whispered under her breath as she quietly got out of her bed and left her room. She began walking down the hall to see if her dad was still gone.

In the driveway, her dad's black Mitsubishi looked as if it hadn't been running for hours. She leaned against her parents' door, now with a gaping hole at her shoulder's height. Likely from her dad's fist again. It would be the third door in their new house, the fifth overall. Discluding a few walls of course.

"I'm sorry. I can fix everything when I get back from work tomorrow" Her dad's whisper came from the other side of the closed door.

"Well you can't just go off like that so often. I know your job is stressful, but the kids have school tomorrow." Her mom's voice had the same matter-of-fact tone as always.

Her dad had been working as a C.O. for Santa Clara for over eighteen years. Now he had also begun real estate and construction work with his brother. He also coached for the highschool's football and wrestling team. And her mom was all about success, logic, and good education. Her dad however, was more in tune with his spiritual side even though he was constantly working and was the more easy-going one of the two. Neither of them really understood much of anything about their youngest daughter.

"I know. I said I'm sorry-" Lele left before her parents realized she was up. She knew they never would, but she wouldn't take the chance, she wasn't in the mood to make up any more excuses than she normally did. She walked back down the hall and into the bathroom to wash her mascara streaked face.

She turned on the light and looked in the mirror. All she saw was a scamming con-artist who had no future and wished she had no past. Lele ran her hand through her hair. It was no longer down to her waist like it was three years ago. For her, long hair had only been an opportunity to get dragged by it again, so she had cut it just below her ears. But now it had grown out past her shoulders again-just as her family was getting into more fights.

Quickly splashing water on her face, Lele turned off the light and returned to her room afraid to fall asleep just to dream of the blonde boy. She stayed up the entire night and only pretended to be asleep until she had to get ready for school a few hours later.

Lele sat in her health class, scrawling words onto the back of one of her drawings.

What are you writing? Mury, one of her friends passed her a note across the circular table as the teacher continued to jabber on as he always did.

Just a few lyrics I have stuck in my head. She slid the note back over to Mury.

Can I see?

Sure. Lele quickly copied the set of words to their note then passed it back.

The dream isn't over yet

Though I often say I can't forget

I still relive that day

You've been there with me all the way

I still hear you say

"Wait for me, I'll be back again"

I could see how you stand with your eyes to the floor

But still I swore

To hide the pain when I turned back the pages

Shouting might have been the answer

What if I hung my head and said that I couldn't wait

But now I know it's not too late

Murry paused for a moment after reading the not and looked up at Lele with a worried, sympathetic look in her eyes. Lele had gone back to drawing on her notebook paper as usual, refusing to let anyone even get an opportunity to glance at her drawing. Instead of sliding the not back across the table, Murry tossed it under the table at Lele's feet, just to be sure that the person sitting between the two wouldn't steal their note.

Lele placed her drawing between the pages of her book and picked up the note that had landed on her shoe and read it. There was only one word on it.

Josh?

Lele stifled a disappointed sigh and scrawled a reply. I thought I asked you never to say that to me again. She slid the not across the table for one last time.

Right as Murry finished reading Lele's chicken scratch, the bell rang and the classroom quickly emptied. "Sorry" Murry mouthed, Lele was the only one who knew how to read lips.

"That's okay." Lele shook her head and calmly told her friend, even if it was a lie.

The two split up at the end of the hallway, both leaving to go to their usual group of friends. "Bye Lele." Murry shouted as she turned away.

"Later Murry" There was a cold chill aimed toward her friend in her voice. But as did everything she said, it slipped by unnoticed. Lele continued walking towards the band room when another of her friends came up behind her.

"Lele!" Her friend waved and ran towards her with one of their other friends right behind her.

Lele smiled faintly I'll never let them see me without a smile…And they can never know about my family. She banished her lingering thoughts of Josh. With his striking blue eyes, spiked blonde hair, that laugh that would brighten her darkest days and-No! She bit her lip and dug her nails into her palm, refusing to remember him than anything else than someone she had met in her art class. No one had ever even begun to guess that Lele only drew trying to replace what she wished for it the most. She always viewed that if they met because of art, maybe it could bring them back together. After all, it had worked for her in so many other aspects for her. But her lucid dreaming always hindered her from drawing ever since Josh had left. She was afraid of the effects of her drawing at her full potential. It scared other people too, but they didn't know she did it. And they never would, not if Lee could help it. She broadened her smile to keep her friends off her trail. "So, are either of you going to the dance Friday?"

Her shorter friend, Kara, shook her head, "No, I have to go to my brother's game that day."

"What about you Dan?" Dan was one of the few people that Lele hung out with that was actually taller than her. Which was a nice change from last year.

"No, I'm busy that day." He said as they all walked towards their usual spot. Once they got there, their other friends were already waiting for them.

"Hi Mizu, hi Ileana, Hi Sarah." Lele and Kara said in one breath.

Lele, Kara and Dan swung off their backpacks and set them on the brick wall Mizu was sitting on. "Wow!" Mizu pointed at at Lele, "What happened to your lip?!"

Shocked she hadn't even noticed herself, Lele rose her hand up to her lower lip. Her fingers ran over a dark scab running the length of her lip. Thinking quickly, she breathed a false laugh, "Oh yea! Yesterday I fell off my bike." But as only she knew, what was false for her was true for her friends and what was fantasy for them became reality for her.

"I thought Cory had your bike?" Kara looked at the brunette suspiciously.

Easily knowing what she should say next, she continued smiling as she talked, easily avoiding the truth, "Actually, Lisa took it from Cory who took it back from Jimmy when he took it from CeCe. Then Jimmy took it again and broke it, but I got my brother to fix it."

"Oh," Mizu laughed, "that sucks, haha."

Everyone smiled slightly when the school's loudspeakers screeched on, "Will Lele Huna please come to the main office. Lele Huna, to the main office, thank you."

Why do they say please and thank you? It's not even a question, more of a command telling you to get your ass to the office. Lele thought to herself. She never spoke her true thoughts anymore, not after being hit so many times for doing so. Now the only things she said, she would already know what people's reactions would be. Sadly, she was usually right, making daily life to and from school pretty damn predictable and boring. There were only a select few that she could never guess right on. One of those people was Josh. "Hey, anyone want to come with me? If they make me wait, I might have to start singing and dancing."

Not to her surprise, Lele's friends laughed. Everytime they had dragged Lele to the office for whatever the reason had been, Lele had become all too easily impatient and begun singing in just about the worst voice she could muster and begun dancing ridiculously unlit they had finally left or been given something else to do besides sit and wait. "Sure, I'll come." One by one the group quickly agreed to follow Lele to the office.

"Maybe I'll get to go home early today." Lele said jokingly.

"Aw! That would sooo not be fair!!" Mizu light-heartedly complained.

The group of friends joked about the ridiculous things that could happen when they walked into the office. They all entered the building laughing even when the secretary handed Lele an eerie looking package.

"Hi, are you Lele?" the old secretary tipped her narrow glasses back over eyes to get a good look at her.

"Huh? Oh, yea." A smile still lingered on the edge of her lips as she was handed a dove grey box with blackish-blue ties around it that weren't quite navy.

"Here you go, the person who delivered it said for you to not open it until you were alone."

Lele looked at the old woman with curiosity beginning to overflow her eyes, "They didn't say who they were?"

"Nope." The secretary's voice was flat and annoyed, she was clearly tired of these childish-seeming antics.

"Can you remember what they looked like then?" Everyone could clearly hear the sudden desperation in Lele's voice. But only a few would be able to guess what she sought after.

"Look sweetie," her tone urged them to go away and let her continue to do her job, "I couldn't have cared less about what they looked like, all I know is that they had some of the most striking blue eyes." She shook her head, as if wanting to somehow dislodge it from her memory.

Lele breathed heavily, as if to be sure she wouldn't collapse at ceasing to breathe altogether. Her knees felt the urge to buckle and her fingers twiddled with the dark ribbons wrapped and tied tightly around the box. "Josh." His name was barely a whisper escaping from her lips.

"What?" Her friends leaned in only the slightest bit, trying to hear if Lele had repeated herself or not.

Lele turned towards Mizu with her hands clasped on to the box as if it held all of life's meanings within it. Her green eyes glittered and sparkled with hope in every corner of her thoughts. She looked as if she had never seen a harsh day in her life, which was all too far from the truth.

Without Lele needing to say anything more, Mizu's eyes widened as she realized what was running through her friend's head. Lele was thinking that the package had been from none other than Josh. And if it was, there was no way in hell that she would wait till she was on her own-that wouldn't be until long after she had gone home. Even then, someone was usually there and she shared her bedroom with her sister. "No!" Knowing how a few too many strange things happened to follow Lele, Mizu didn't want this to be one of them. Though Kara hadn't been so slow to trust as Mizu and Lele, the two freshmen had wanted to keep these strange and unruly secrets forever hidden from Dan, Sarah and all their new friends-and even some old ones. Telling people these sort of things had usually ended up bad in one way of another, so they had finally decided to go quite. Though both of them itched to spill their juicy secrets, they never let more than an accidental slip of a few words pass their mouth.

As everyone watched Lele dash over to the corners of the school no one had tended to eat near, Mizu ran after her, shouting at her to stop.

"What's up with them?" Dan asked, clearly confused.

"I don't know." Kara half lied as the rest of the group followed the two girls before them.

Everyone got there just in time to see Lele unsheathe a small survival knife she always had on her person in case she would ever have the need to "get away" like that first night.

"Lele! Don't!" Mizu's voice was suprisingly stern and genuinely serious.

Lele ignored anything and everything her friends did as she slid the sharp knife under the last of the ties around the box and pulled mindlessly up on it until the ribbon fell cleanly cut on top of the other ribbons. Everyone held their breaths as Lele lifted up the dove grey lid and peered into the little container.

Ha! Cliffhanger! Ehee, this is what happens when you let me make two whole batches of chai-me typing my entire chapter at 4 AM with me using my left hand while my right is encased in a cast. All the while blasting my ears to death with music. Anywho, I hope you liked it, cuz now my hand feels like it's going to fall off lol. Mmm…I think I'm going to finally go to sleep…maybe…(meaning no of course.)